The Office: BBC or American Flavor?

I just received the first season of the BBC version for Christmas.  After seeing those again and half of season two of the American version, the battle is on.  Of course, the BBC version is the obvious favorite since it is the original and stars the shows creator, Ricky Gervais.  The first few episodes of the American one even used the same scripts as the BBC series.  In these episodes the BBC is the clear winner.  However over the past couple of years, the American version has shown it's own more direct style of comedy.  Both are great, but which is the greatest?  

First compare Micheal Scott (Steve Carell) of the American version to David Brent (Ricky Gervais) of the BBC version.  Easy.  Steve is funny, but no one is better than Ricky.  The character he created inspired the entire series, after all.  So... (insert image of David straightening his tie here).  Advantage BBC.

Then compare Dwight Schrute of the American version to Gareth Keenan in the BBC version.  If you haven't seen Gareth you must check the guy out.  Dwight is hilarious however, and he may be the reason the American show has become such a hit.  Though BBC fans will hate me for it, I say advantage American version.

OK as a tie breaker, let's compare Pam and Jim from the American version to Dawn and Tim from the BBC version.  To be fair we have to say that the actors in the BBC version created these characters.  They had no idea how these two should relate to each other and they had to figure it out as they went.  The actors in the American version had hours of episodes that they could borrow from.  That said, I prefer Pam and Jim.  I think because, like all of the American characters, they are more relaxed about the f'ed up environment they work in than the BBC characters.  This contributes to more humorous situations and less purely awkward ones.  What can I say, I guess I really am American.  Advantage Amer- no I can't say it.  Call it a draw.  Watch them both!

Current Top 5 Lists

That I haven't seen:
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Perfume- dir. Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run)
For Your Consideration
The Science of Sleep
Rome- HBO Series
Volver

That I have seen:
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Genghis Blues
Little Miss Sunshine
Deadwood
The Office- BBC and Regular flavor
A Scanner Darkly

*Still haven't seen The Departed, The Last King of Scotland, Half Nelson, and Fearless from my last Top 5 list.
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The Motherload

My morning routine has recently changed.  I used to watch the Daily Show and the Colbert Report each morning at 8AM on TV.  But now I watch the Daily Show and the Colbert Report each morning at 7:45AM online.  It's nice watching it 15 minutes earlier because it allows me to get to work on time.  Plus there's no commercials. Well actually, there are still commercials. Here's how I work this magic.  First I go to Comedy's Central's Motherload page.  Then I click on the Daily Show-Colbert button.  In there you'll find the most recent episodes of the Colbert Report and the Daily Show.  Each morning the headline and the interview from last night are available, but it takes a little longer for all of the segments to be added.  If you haven't been, check it out.  There's some good stuff on there right now.  Ricky Gervais was the guest on the Daily Show last night.

The HBO Series

The Sopranos and Six Feet Under are the classics, but almost all of HBO's shows are good.

I've been watching Carnivale for about 6 episodes now. It's an unusual story about a traveling carnival during the dustbowl years in the southwest. But the story is much stranger than that. A supernatural battle between good and evil is taking place, and the characters are apparently being manipulated by these forces. It's too weird to explain. Check it out.

Deadwood is another great series. During the gold rush, real characters such as Wild Bill and Calamity Jane settle in Deadwood, Montana. People from all over the country have come in search of gold and a place with no laws. But despite the few famous characters, this is no average western. It has many great performances and has won a lot of awards. The language is cool too. There's a lot of cursing, but after a while you see that it has it's own rhythm. I've even heard it compared to Shakespeare.

I've also been watching a little bit of Entourage. It's not as artful as these other 2 shows, but I had fun watching a few episodes. The main characters are a group a friends from Brooklyn now living in LA. The pretty boy of the group is the it actor in Hollywood and the rest are living off of his success. He's not very smart so he lets one of his friends make all of his decisions for him. The characters are young and the dialogue isn't all that interesting, but there are some fun behind-the-scenes movie business parts.

The next one I want to check out is Rome. It got a lot of attention for it's expensive sets, but I've heard it's just as good as these other shows.

What's impressive about all of these HBO shows is the quality of the entire production. The casting, set design, and writing are redefining the medium of television. Perfect for Netflix rentals.